The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-12-03
THE BELIEF OF UNIVERSALISTS.
BY Rev. J. II. TUTTLE, d. D.,
tMinneapolis.)

NOV. 10, occupies nearly nine Columns
with articles from various representa-
tive ministers of that city, explaining
the doctri nal beliefs of their various
churches. This series of articles in
cludes one from Rev. DR.. Tuttle, the
we'll known pastor of the Universalist
Church of the Redeemer, in Minneapo-
lis, which we give herewith.
Article 1. " We believe that the holy
Scriptures of the Old and New Testa-
ment are the revelation of the charac-
ter of God, and of the duty, interest
and final destination of mankind"
Art. 2. "We believe that there is
one God, whose nature is Love, reveal
ed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one
Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally
restore the family of mankind to holi-
ness and happiness"
Art. 8. 1--WE believe that holiness
and true happiness are inseparably cd4-
nected, and believers ought to be care
full to maintain order and to practice
good works, for these things are good
and profitable unto men,
The above is our creed-the sub.
stance of it at least. This we insert
in our church organizations and pro-
claim in our church councils; this we
recite in our Sunday schools; train min
listers in; instruct our church members
in; and read to all irquirers after the
! fundamentals of our faith.
l will add few comments to this
compact statement of doctrines; write
few words between the lines.
Article l. We believe the Scriptures
are inspired, but not plenarily; that
some of them are more authoritative
than others; that some of them are his
torical merely; that the human element
appears in all of them, and is dominant
in many of them; that the revelation
they contain, of divine things even, is
more in the spirit than in the letter;
that even where the thought is Gods
wholly, the word is more or less mans;
that to understand them we must read
their interior sense chiefly. We believe
that the Bible, though it contains many
mysteries, and needs, for our sakes, all
the light that history, and science, and
scholarship can throw upon is, it is
both simple and plain in its essential
Demands apd leaves ncss ct us in4nacs
essary doubt regarding the ordinary du-
ties of life.
Art. 2. Though we neither forget
nor cast aside the other attributes of
God, we follow the example of the New
Testament especially and lay particular
emphasis ON his love. "Gbd is Love-"
We believe His love precedes ours. 1--WE
love Him because he first loved u.s." We
believe that we have "all one Father"
and hence that all men are brethren;
that the world is one family. On the
love and fatherhood of God, and on the
brotherhood Of man, we base our hope
and argument for the ultimate saliva
tion of all souls.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
is separate and distinct from God; that
he is the 81 Son of God;'' the reflection
or representative of God; the "only be-
gotten SON. of God; in whom dwelt
''the fullness of the Godhead bodily"
that he is our completed infallable
teacher, the d" Saviour of the world"
the only ''name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be
saved;" that to come unto him is to
come unto God, to have life and saliva
ton; that whOsoeyer confesses him he
cOnfesses before his Father in heaven,
and that whosoever denies him he de-
MES before his Father.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is
the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ,
and the spirit of truth, sent to dwell in
us, to quicken, inspire and guide us.
We believe that sin is an awful and
solemn fact in the world, the great de-
stroyer of happiness, that while it is
present peace is absent; that it is i'm
mensely more important to help remove
it from the world than to discover how it
got into the world; that sin is of the devil
and is the only devil; but that Christ
came to destroy sin. /" Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
wool" Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the
world"
We believe in depravity, but not in
"total depravity;" that there are good
and evil in all men-mueh good and
little evil in some and little good and
much evil in others. We believe that
heaven and hell are realities, present as
we'll as future, but that they are states
or conditions of mind, and not realities,
that holiness puts us in one and unholi-
ness in the other; that while God is
merciful and fOrgives the penitent, he
twill by no means clear the guilty."
that we are saved from sin, not in it;
that while sin lasts the punishment for
it must continue; that every sinner
must be regenerated, ''born again, (" and
this change of heart consists in clear
ing the affections, correcting the mo-
tives, facing the whole mind toward
God and firing it with holy ambition